Something More

Andrea Paul

A podcast by Andrea Paul, where we look at stories, poems, scripture, and this beautiful, crazy world we live in as a challenge and an invitation to live an abundant life. *******New content is typically released every Tuesday, but right now I’m on a brief hiatus to finish writing After Indigo. In the meantime, I encourage you to catch up on any content you missed, and visit the contact page at andreapaul.com/contact to join the mailing list if you’d like to be notified when the next new episode releases.******* read less

Religion & SpiritualityReligion & Spirituality

FictionFiction

ChristianityChristianity

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"This is a challenge and an invitation to live an abundant life, to believe that there is a God and that he is good and worthy of worship, that people have souls and are worth investing in, and that we are meant to work alongside God in cultivating a world that exhibits his glory."

Episodes

A Pleasant Place

A Pleasant Place

"I have found in this last year that the main strings on my metaphorical banjo are: abundance and abundant life, the generosity of God, surrendering to him in discipline and obedience, the awe-inspiring glory of the holy God, the beauty of the treasure of friendship, the incredible testimony of creation, God’s faithfulness through trials and difficulty, God as light, and the all-sufficiency of the Lord’s mind-boggling, gracious, merciful love."

"What were you expecting? Giving up as in an admission of defeat? No, no. I’m a soldier in the Lord’s army, and haven’t you heard the good news, the gospel? Christ, my king, has already won the victory over the foe...I want my life to brightly shine God’s light, to showcase his glory. I want to submit to him and treasure him supremely. So, I give up sin."

The Singer's Song

The Singer's Song

"Scientists know that our world likes entropy – chaos. That’s what it tends toward. Energy must be expended to reverse the chaos, to decrease entropy. I’m not sure if the one who created energy – or perhaps is energy – must expend energy to check the chaos, but I know that it’s only by the deliberate exertion of his will that the chaos is checked, that order exists. And he does it by words."

Anise, Is That You?

Anise, Is That You?

"Hopefully you like learning because there is ample opportunity here to do so. Of course, learning about holistic health uses and benefits is what got me started on licorice, but that shouldn’t stop us from also delving into why licorice, anise, and fennel have similar flavor profiles, how we got from the classic black licorice to strawberry-flavored twists of sugar, and the differences between Twizzlers® and old-fashioned licorice treats."

Everlasting Love

Everlasting Love

"If there is but a thin veil that separates this world from the one which is to come, every now and then I see it flutter back and behold wonders beyond it. There are times I grasp more fully the truth about God. Sometimes my heart, mind, and soul all together believe and know and feel and have deep assurance of God’s love...This was one of those times."

The Bag of Blessings

The Bag of Blessings

"...because God’s bag of blessings is more bottomless than Tim Allen’s in The Santa Clause or Mary Poppins’ carpet bag, he had room for so many lovely friends...I don’t have any biological sisters, but I have a generous helping of sisters in Christ who I am blessed enough to call my friends. Can I help it if I’m driven to skip on my way?"

"I was edified recently by my pastor saying that part of God being I AM is that all that he is, he is all at once. We, humanly, are not good at being just and merciful at once. We struggle even with hating sin while loving sinners. We are unable to hold love and wrath side-by-side without either one giving way. But God doesn’t have these struggles. He perfectly exhibits all aspects of his character consistently throughout eternity."

"This armor is effective. It is a gift from God. It fits each of us perfectly when we invite our maker to clothe us with it. I think the armor of God is exciting and encouraging. It’s edifying. It’s practical. Don’t go out without it."

"Whether...putting up sand fences or rooting our faith, our best work will be done before the consequences of neglect become evident...The fences can be checked and maintained, the posts reset, the loose lines tightened. And we can shore up our faith studying God’s word, seeking him in prayer, and allowing other believers to bear our burdens with us in prayer and truth and love."

Colors Bursting

Colors Bursting

"Thank you, Father, for a sky that makes me lose myself. Thank you for grass that is too green for me to stop wondering at it. Thank you for flowers that are delicate in scent and appearance, the ones that shout out for attention and the ones that subtly remind me of the beauty in little things. Thank you for sunshine which warms me. You are so glorious, and I see it and hear it all throughout this lovely world you have made."

"I begin with recognition of the world declaring who God is. This is not relational; it is simply fact. I end with my own recognition of the delight of relationship with my maker. Where I started by hearing his praise, I end by participating in it. And I recognize that he took the doubt and grief I brought and renewed me with faith and joy. Though the days of hardship have been long and still continue, I end with the expression of trust that faith and joy will be mine in Christ forever."

The Garden of the Soul

The Garden of the Soul

"This is gardening at its finest – placing a seed in the ground that can be as tiny as a carrot seed and watching it sprout out of the ground and grow greenly upward toward the light...And in time, those tiny seeds become flourishing plants which produce fruit to scatter more seeds. / Isn’t this what heaven is about too?"

"At the eyewall, we know. We know that the storm will destroy us, and we don’t want to be destroyed. But our vision is too obscured to even know if there is a way of escape. And then, there is the eye. There is God. There is peace. When we come to the end of ourselves, we have reached the eyewall. We know there is no answer in ourselves, and we know that we want the answer. And even if a part within us it tempted to go back, we no longer can. But oh, the joy of this truth: the eye has found us!"

"Being mice, the natural timidity of the Sleeks and the Softs for quite a few generations prevented them from interacting with one another at all. Their paths would cross from time to time, but they would scurry off in opposite directions without speaking, or the one would covertly watch the other from the seclusion of the nearest plant. / However, one day that all changed when Roger, a Sleek, spoke to Freddy, a Soft."

"This is specifically what I want my vindication to look like. Ten, twenty, thirty, forty years from now, I want the person I have become and the life that I live to show clearly that listening to God’s voice is truly best, that the riches of his glory far exceed the riches that have a dollar sign attached to them."

"[T]wo hundred fifty years after Newton posited the concept of universal gravitation, Einstein said he was wrong...Objects aren’t attracting other objects by their mass. Their mass is bending the fabric of time and space, and this distortion causes other objects to travel towards them...This begs the question of whether space literally has a fabric to it, and scientists are currently trying to figure that out...What if the invisible fabric of the universe is God?"

Daffodils and Spring

Daffodils and Spring

"You know how some people just carry light with them? Mom was one of those people. I could list off a whole string of positive adjectives for her without considering myself to be at all exaggerating, but “bright” just might be my favorite. And that’s not so much because she was a smarty pants – though believe me, she was! It’s because her brisk energy and optimism for the future were glowing. And the light of Christ shone through her in a way that made the gospel look like good news indeed."

To Fear or Not to Fear

To Fear or Not to Fear

"I want to start by saying that holding on to both fear of God and casting out fear is not holding on to legalism and licentiousness. It is letting go of them both for something infinitely better...What then is this better way, and what does it look like?"

"I want you to know more deeply than you know anything else that God absolutely loves you. He doesn't love you for anything you have done, save trusting in Christ. You can't diminish his love by falling short of his glory. He knows that change takes time, and unlike us, he knows exactly how long the change will take. He wants our obedience today, and he's not judging us today for last year's mistakes."

Heartbeat of a Lamb

Heartbeat of a Lamb

"What do I mean by saying, “Life forever calling”?...Life itself has a certain appeal...But abundant life calls out with a promise of life being worth living. The richness and beauty of abundant life is alluring. This is the sound of the heartbeat of a lamb."